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Almanac: Week: 04 \ Day: 023
January
Averages: 43°\16°
86004 Today: H 33°\L 21° wind chill-drop 15°
Ave. humidity: 34% Average Sky Cover: 0%
Wind ave:
8mph\Gusts:
45mph
Ave. High: 43° Record High: 61° (1970)
Ave. Low: 17° Record Low: -15° (1937)
Observances
Today:
Measure Your Feet Day
National Handwriting Day
National Pie Day
Snowplow
Mailbox Hockey Day
Observances This
Week:
17-23
National Fresh Squeezed
Juice Week
18-25
Week of Christian Unity
Healthy Weight Week
Hunt For Happiness Week
National Activity Professionals Week
International Snowmobile Safety and Awareness Week
National Handwriting Analysis Week
19-25
No Name Calling Week
Sugar Awareness Week
« »
Quote of
the Day
Historical
Highlights for Today
1552 - 2nd version of Book of Common Prayer becomes
mandatory in England
1556 - Deadliest earthquake ever recorded kills
830,000 in Shensi Province, China
1570 - Earl of Moray, regent of Scotland,
assassinated; civil war breaks out
1789 - Georgetown, 1st US Catholic college, founded
1845 - Uniform US election day for president &
VP authorized
1849
- Mrs Elizabeth Blackwell becomes
1st woman physician in US
1859 - Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii begins an
eruption that lasts 300 days
1870 - 173 Blackfoot (140 women & children)
killed in Montana by US Army
1879 - US National Archery Association forms
(Crawfordsville, Ind)
1907 - Charles Curtis of Kansas becomes 1st Native
American US senator
1916 - Temp falls from 44°F (7°C) to -56°F (49°C)
night of 23-24, Browning MT
1930 - Clyde Tombaugh photographs planet Pluto
1943 - Duke Ellington plays at Carnegie Hall
in New York City for the first time
1961 - Supreme Court rules cities & states have
right to censor films
1962 - Jackie Robinson elected to Baseball
Hall of Fame
1964 - 24th Amendment to Constitution ratified,
barring poll tax in federal elections
1971 - Riots break out in the Shankill Road area of
Belfast, North Ireland
1972 - Entire population of Istanbul under 24 hour
house arrest
1973 - President Nixon announces an accord has been
reached to end Vietnam War
1977 - Miniseries "Roots" premieres on ABC
1991 - World's largest oil spill, caused by
embattled Iraqi forces in Kuwait
1996 – 1st
version of the Java programming language was released.
« »
♫
Birthdays Today: ♫
How many can you identify? Answers below in Birthday’s Today
My
Rambling Thoughts
Such a beautiful day, until I walked outside. Cold, Cold, Cold
with biting wind everywhere. Thankfully I only went out to go to lunch.
Mary has a bad cold so she went to the clinic, deciding they have
better medical knowledge than either Cheryl or I. She didn’t sleep at all last
night with the coughing and running nose. Cheryl and I met at one of our
favorite local restaurants. Cheryl is so happy with her home renovations and
even with this wind, her home is toasty warm with a quiet furnace. We were both
ready to head home quickly after lunch…no stops for shopping, just wanted to
stay warm.
The news channels keep talking about having better relations
between the police and the community they serve. While I lived as a minority on
the Rez I had a good relation with the cops. Educators of every color were well
respected. I have seen some of the poor relations here in Flag and it is time
to stop assuming that people of color are guilty of crime and violence without more
information than color.
Funny story: I had a police lieutenant come to my classroom one
year to talk to my 8th graders. Most had less than positive
encounters with police…many time showing up at their houses and hauling away an
abusive or drunk relative. So the cop is explaining his job. He talked about finding
a John Doe who was passed out, or a John Doe who had fighting with a Jane Doe,
or a John Doe who driving erratically. After a number of stories about how hard
it was to deal with a John Doe it was time for questions. First question: Lt.
Begay, this John Doe dude sounds like a pretty bad guy, why don’t you just put
him in prison? The only two people in the room who were smiling were the Lt.
and me. All the students were shaking their heads in agreement with the
questioner.
« »
Brain
Teasers
(answers at the end of post)
Change
one letter in each word to form the name of a famous person. (Bet
Stifler = Ben Stiller)
1. Delta Geese
2. Halve Ferry
3. Since Girl
4. Mew Roan
5. Tint Burner
6. Row Lose
7. Tone Dale
8. Amp Giant
9. Earth Brooms
10. Bray Pita
Found on
You Tube with some relevance to today
Returns tomorrow
« »
Paraphernalia
4 the Brain:
70’s
Inventions…
1971
The dot-matrix printer invented.
The food processor invented.
The liquid-crystal display (LCD) invented by James Fergason.
The microprocessor invented by Faggin, Hoff and Mazor.
VCR or videocassette invented.
Easter
Eggs…check it out…
Searching for “tilt” or “askew” will make the page lean to the
right slightly.
Flagstaff,
AZ History…
100 YEARS
AGO
--Leo Perrin and Marion Aubineau climbed The Peaks on Wednesday.
They did both Peaks and found lots of snow. It was so cold the water in their
canteens froze.
--The Women’s Club of Flagstaff is gratified to announce the
formal opening of the Public Library. The Reading Room will open on Monday,
Dec. 14. The ladies will be receiving from 2 to 5 and 7 to 9 p.m. They are
especially desirous of exuding a cordial welcome to every citizen and express a
word of appreciation for the efforts of all those who have made this venture
successful. Appreciation cards will be issued on opening day.
Flagstaff’s
Iconic 50…
Heritage
Square
Romans, Parisians and Venetians knew it. Londoners, New Yorkers
and even Santa Feans, too. And now more and more Flagstaff residents are
getting it. We're beginning to understand the importance of a gathering place
in the center of town - an axis around which the community spins. Call it a
piazza, place, plaza or square. It's all the same. Valuable urban space
dedicated to nothing more than getting together, sitting down with friends or
by yourself, and relaxing amidst the hustle of city life. A place to take the
pulse of a community.
Flagstaff doesn't have quite the Old World grandeur of St. Peter's
Square in Rome, St. Mark's Square in Venice or Trafalgar Square in London. Nor
does it have the teeming urban vitality of Times Square in New York or the
Spanish-and-Puebloan-themes of the plaza in Santa Fe. But it does have its own
uniquely Flagstaff equivalent - Heritage Square.
Heritage Square, located along Aspen Street between the AG Edwards
Building and Babbitt's Backcountry Outfitters in downtown Flagstaff, is the
vision of five people: Dick and Jean Wilson, Jim Babbitt, Steve Vanlandingham
and Francis McAllister.
The five Square proponents, now collectively known as the Heritage
Square Trust, worked to convince the City of Flagstaff to make the Square a
reality. Previously, the space occupied by the artfully-designed red brick
square held a dirt parking lot. "We wanted to turn it into something open
to everybody - to turn it into a town meeting place rather than commercial
buildings," says Trust member Dick Wilson. "Other towns have it and
Flagstaff needed a place like this."
Harper’s
Index…
19
Percentage by which a Muslim in India is less likely than a Hindu
to die in infancy
Rules of
Thumb…
LEARNING
A LANGUAGE
The more languages you know, the easier
it is for you to learn a new one
Unusual
Fact of the Day…
Two of America's greatest national symbols were made overseas: The
Liberty Bell was cast in England and the Statue of Liberty was crafted in
France
« »
Joke-of-the-day
Some years ago a local jewelry store donated a
set of four time zone clocks to my hometown Police Department in Maywood, NJ.
The first week all four clocks ran fine. On Monday the weekly test of the
building generator was conducted. The eastern, central and western clocks ran
perfectly. While the mountain zone clock ran backwards.
The problem continued. Needless to say, "the time" was always in
question.
Yep, It
Really Happened
PLYMOUTH,
England (UPI)
Alex Nash, a 5-year-old from Cornwall, England, has been billed
for skipping a classmate's birthday party at the Ski Slope and Snowboard Centre
in Plymouth last month. Alex's father, Derek, told the Plymouth Herald on
Monday that his son came home with a £15.95 ($24) invoice last week. It had
been passed on to him by Julie Lawrence, the mother of the classmate whose
birthday he missed. "I thought it was a joke to begin with. I am lost for
words," Derek said. Derek said Alex had agreed to go to the party but
remembered too late that his son had made plans to spend the day with his
grandparents. He said he didn't have any way to contact the Lawrence family.
Lawrence told BBC News that Alex and his family had her contact information.
"All details were on the party invite. They had every detail needed to
contact me." Derek told Lawrence that he refused to pay the bill because
of the way Lawrence broached the issue. "I told her she should have spoken
to me first and not put the invoice in my son's school bag," he said.
"I would have sympathized with her about the cost of Alex not showing up,
but I just can't believe the way she has gone around it." Derek said
Lawrence threatened to take him to small claims court, though Derek's partner
is attempting to mediate the dispute.
Somewhat
Useless Information
--Martin
Luther King Jr. was born on Jan. 15 (he would have been 86 this year). He is
the only non-president to have a national U.S. holiday dedicated to him.
--King
skipped ninth and 11th grade. As a result, he went to Morehouse College at age
15.
--Empire State Building. Finished in 1931, it
towers 1,250 ft over New York City. Until the first tower of the World Trade
Center was finished in 1972, it was the world's tallest building.
--Itaipu Dam. Built by Brazil
and Paraguay on the Parana River, the dam is the world's largest hydroelectric
power plant. Completed in 1991, it took 16 years to build this series of dams
whose length totals 7,744 m. It used 15 times more concrete than the Channel
Tunnel.
--CN Tower. In 1976, the tower
became the world's tallest freestanding structure. It looms about one-third of
a mile high (1,815 ft) above Toronto, Canada. A glass floor on the observation
deck lets you look 342 m down to the ground.
--Panama Canal. It took 34 years
to create this 50-mile-long canal across the Isthmus of Panama. The amount of
digging required and the size of its locks helped make it the most expensive
project in American history at that time-and the most deadly: About 80,000
people died during construction (most from disease).
-Channel Tunnel.
Known as the Chunnel, it links France and England. It is 31 mi long, and 23 of
those miles are 150 ft beneath the seabed of the English Channel. High-speed
trains whiz through its side-by-side tubes.
--Netherlands North Sea Protection
Works. Because the Netherlands is below sea level, a series of dams,
floodgates, and surge barriers have been built to keep the sea from flooding
the country during storms. The biggest part of the project was a two-mile-long
moveable surge barrier across an estuary finished in 1986. It is made of 65
concrete piers each weighing 18,000 tons. It has been said that the project is
nearly equal in scale to the Great Wall of China.
--Golden Gate Bridge. Connecting
San Francisco and Marin County in 1937, for many years this was the longest
suspension bridge in world. Experts thought that winds, ocean currents, and fog
would make it impossible to build. It took about four years to complete the
beautiful 1.2-mile-long bridge. It is held by 80,000 mi worth of steel wire,
and the cables that link the two towers are 36.5 inches in diameter-the biggest
ever made.
« »
Today’s
Events through History
1368 - In a coronation ceremony, Zhu Yuanzhang
ascends to the throne of China as the Hongwu Emperor, initiating Ming Dynasty
rule over China that would last for three centuries
1656 - Blaise Pascal publishes the first of
his Lettres provincials
1994 - Worldwide Day for peace in Bosnia-Hercegovina
« »
Birthday’s
Today
Gil
Gerard, actor (Buck Rogers in 25th Century) is 72
Richard
Dean Anderson, actor (MacGyver) is 65
Hakeem
Olajuwon, Lagos, Nigeria, NBA center (Houston Rockets) is 53
Gail
O'Grady, actress (Hitman) is 52
Mariska Hargitay
,
actress (Jesse Smith-Downtown) is 51
Tiffani-Amber
Theissen, actress (Saved by Bell) is 41
Tito
Ortiz, American UFC fighter is 40
« »
Remembered
for being born today
John
Hancock, merchant (1st to sign Declaration of Independence), 1737-1793@56
Sir
William Samuel Stephenson, Canadian soldier, W.W.II codename, Intrepid.
Inspiration for James Bond. 1897-1989 @92
Dan
Duryea, actor (Pride of the Yankees) 1907-1968@61
Ernie
Kovacs, comedian (Ernie Kovacs' Show) 1919-1962@42
« »
Historical
Obits Today
Jack
LaLanne, fitness and nutritional expert, 2011, @96
E. Howard
Hunt, American Watergate figure, 2007, @88
Salvador
DalÃ, Catalan artist, 1989, @84
Arthur
Guinness, Irish brewer, 1803, @82ish
Edvard
Munch, Norwegian painter (The Scream), 1944, @80
Johnny
Carson, American television host, heart attack, 2005, @79
Paul
Robeson, athlete/lawyer/singer, stroke, 1976, @77
Matthew
Stewart, Scottish mathematician, 1785, @68
Richard
Berry, lyricist (Louie Louie), heart disease, 1997, @61
Nell
Carter, American singer and actress, heart disease, 2003, @54
Francisco
Maldonado da Silva Solis, Peruvian poet, burned at stake,
1639,@47
« »
Brain Teasers Answers
1. Della Reese
2. Halle Berry
3. Vince Gill
4. Meg Ryan
5. Tina Turner
6. Rob Lowe
7. Tyne Daly
8. Amy Grant
9. Garth Brooks
10. Brad Pitt
« »
Disclaimer: All opinions are
mine…feel free to agree or disagree.
All ‘data’ info is from the internet
sites and is usually checked with at least one other source, but I have learned
that every site contains mistakes and sadly once the information is out there,
many sites simply copy it and is therefore difficult to verify. Also for events
occurring before the Gregorian calendar was adopted [1582] the dates may not be
totally accurate.
§…And That Is All for Now…§
